Category: knpn-local-news

Cameron Montemayor

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — City leaders unveiled an extensive 12- to 18-month strategic plan of action for improving city services and addressing top priorities from a recent community survey, a plan that officials are confident will produce change. 

A packed room of city officials and department leaders met Tuesday afternoon for early but critical talks on a list of targeted goals and initiatives they plan to implement in response to the survey, combining feedback from all of the city’s departments with new survey data to pinpoint the most effective strategies.

The 24-page document lays out action steps and measurable goals for virtually every department, particularly public safety, public works, and community development.

“Going forward, we will add public work sessions where department leaders will provide councilmembers updates on work and projects,” City Manager Mike Schumacher said. “And move the needle on the customer satisfaction survey.”

Roughly 600 people participated in the community survey this spring asking residents to rate their satisfaction with the city’s key services and provide feedback on community needs. Top priorities include enforcement of city codes, maintenance of city streets, quality of police services and effectiveness of city communication.

City officials intend to address code enforcement concerns through a wide-range of objectives, including quarterly walkthroughs in high-blight areas, meetings with neighborhood groups, developing shared databases between police and code enforcement officials and selecting neighborhoods for full scale clean up annually.

City officials said a critical piece of the plan is improved communication with residents, whether through community outreach, social media or new QR codes at nearly every facility for community feedback.

“It’s a starting point. We all look at it as how do we better communicate? How do we better react? Mayor John Josendale said. “We’ll have regular meetings which again are open to the public to come in and listen to where each of those departments are.”

The public safety portion of the plan also lays out a variety of planned efforts, including identifying the city’s top crime hot spots, holding bi-weekly crime intelligence discussions, community meetings with neighborhoods and new staff positions geared toward crime analytics, among other plans.

City officials are determined to show they’re serious about not only working closely with the community to address those areas of need but improving internal processes and procedures themselves. 

“One of the things that we need to do is everybody with the city understanding what the other person does, how they do it, and how it affects each person and each stakeholder with the city,” District 4 City Councilmember Michael Grimm said. “I think this is a really good start with being able to engage the people and show them what we do and let them know just how their tax dollars are being spent.”

Discussions also focused heavily on heightened efforts to improve St. Joseph’s critical gap in housing, which has contributed to steep declines in younger demographics and steady population loss overall.

The city is rolling out a new program called SeeClickFix that allows residents to better report issues and more importantly track the progress of their inquiries so they know when and who will address it in a timely fashion.   

2025 Goals Final DraftDownload

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Charles Christian

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — In the middle of funding challenges for school districts throughout the country, the St. Joseph School District approved its 2025-2026 fiscal year budget in its June 23 meeting.

The Board of Education unanimously approved its nearly $170 million working budget for the 2025-26 academic year, reflecting only a 2.2% increase from the previous year overall.

Retiring Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations, Dr. Robert Sigrist, said the goal was to present a conservative budget that recognizes the possibility of cuts in state and federal revenue.

“We tried to be very conservative,” Sigrist said. “We went in most areas below what DESE’s (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) estimate was for state funding.”

Given the $3.1 million deficit left over from last year’s budget, the SJSD will transfer about $5.1 million from the operating fund to carry over into the new year. Noticeable cuts in outlay for building expenditures and new construction kept numbers relatively low, with Sigrist citing the completion of bond-funded projects in the previous fiscal year.

“This past year, we had a lot of bond projects going on,” Sigrist said. “That included the HVAC project at Central. There will still be some bond projects in this coming year, but much of the $20 million bond project money from 2024 was spent in this past year.”

Notable increases in projected spending in faculty and staff recruitment and placement, reflecting the ongoing staffing needs for the district. The amount will increase from about $198,000 to about $659,000 for this coming fiscal year.

“We budgeted more for our ‘Grow Your Own’ program,” Sigrist said. “This will help staff that may be interested in becoming teachers or other certified workers by providing scholarships and incentives.”

In the June 2025 meeting, school administrators noted crucial openings for teachers and staff as the district moves into the new school year.

Enrollment is also expected to be down slightly for 2025-2026. Sigrist said federal funding accounted for about 10% of the SJSD budget for the previous academic year, and the district is prepared to adjust as needed while maintaining a goal of working toward a zero-based budget in the future.

As far as revenue, the district expects slight decreases in local and county revenue sources, an approximate $2 million decrease in federal sources, and about a $ 5 million increase in state sources of funding.

For a full layout of the entire school budget for 2025-2026, visit the SJSD School Board website.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The St. Joseph Animal Shelter is participating in the St. Joe FIT community walk to showcase adoptable animals.

The walk will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will take place at the Southwest (North) Trail, located by the REC Center at 2701 Southwest Parkway.

The Animal Shelter will bring a few recent Puppies for Parole graduates, as well as puppies participating in the Shelter’s Fourth of July “Spin the Wheel” adoption special.

The Animal Shelter’s Fourth of July “Spin the Wheel” special will take place from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, through Thursday, July 3.

Residents are encouraged to spin a wheel with price ranges between $5 and $50 for dogs, whereas cats will be available to adopt for a $25 flat fee.

St. Joe FIT is a free fitness and recreation program for all ages, highlighting the features of local trails.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — As St. Joseph residents gear up for sparks to fly this weekend, the City of St. Joseph has fireworks ordinances in place for safety purposes.

City Ordinance 16-32 states, “No person shall store, offer for sale, expose for sale, sell at retail, use, explode, discharge, set off or possess any Class 1.4G fireworks, devices or any device with a report; or any device that discharges a projectile or any fireworks forbidden for shipment by the Interstate Commerce Commission or any fireworks condemned or prohibited by the Bureau of Explosives…”

The ordinance also says it has exceptions for certain fireworks like: sparklers, colored torches, colored fire cones and boxes, nonpoisonous snakes, colored smoke items without report, cones, fountains, pinwheels, spinners, spinner wheels, snappers, caps used in toy cap guns and confetti-type poppers.

Although city ordinances do not specifically say when residents can begin setting off explosives, it does say seasonal retailers are permitted to sell fireworks from June 20 through July 10.

The St. Joseph Fire Department also encourages not allowing young children to play with fireworks and only allowing older children to use fireworks under adult supervision.

Additionally, it is recommended to set off fireworks in a clear area, away from houses, dry leaves and other flammable materials.

It is also recommended to keep a bucket of water nearby when using fireworks and not to use fireworks while impaired by drugs or alcohol.

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Patrick Holleron

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — To offer support for those in need, Community Missions launched its “My Brothers House” 24-hour shelter program.

The shelter will provide a place for those who lack housing to stay, to help them find a permanent housing situation.

“We don’t force them to come into the shelter, but we try to make it appealing versus going and sitting in jail,” Community Missions Executive Director Rachael Bittiker said. There’s still work to be done around it. This is the first step, getting the shelter open and have someone have it available for individuals that want to come in.”

Community Missions ran a cold-weather shelter earlier this year, but now the shelter and its efforts are here to stay.

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News-Press NOW

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — The City of St. Joseph announced the date and time for the annual Red Rally celebration, known to “kick off” Training Camp in St. Joseph.

The Red Rally will feature guests like: Tech N9ne, KC Wolf, Blane Howard, Rumble, Mitch Holthus and KC Ambassadors.

The celebration will take place from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, at Civic Center Park in Downtown St. Joseph.

Pre-rally festivities will begin at noon, featuring DJ music. Fans are encouraged to wear red, pick a spot and enjoy the fun atmosphere, which includes inflatables for kids, t-shirts for sale and food and drink vendors. Fans are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

Country music artist, Blane Howard, will perform at 1:30 p.m. At 3 p.m., “Voice of the Kansas City Chiefs”, Mitch Holthus, will kick off the official rally with KC Wolf.

Along with the ambassadors, the Chiefs Rumble Drumline and the Griffon Spirit Team from Missouri Western State University will also be in attendance.

The Rally will take place following Chiefs’ Training Camp at Missouri Western’s campus, which starts at 9:15 a.m.

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Associated Press

By LISA MASCARO, MARY CLARE JALONICK and MATT BROWN – Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of votes, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie to push it over the top. The three Republicans opposing the bill were Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol, the president’s signature legislative priority teetering on the edge of approval, or collapse.

The difficulty it took for Republicans, who have the majority hold in Congress, to wrestle the bill to this point is not expected to let up. The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to deviate too far from what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems as they race to finish by Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.

The outcome is a pivotal moment for president and his party, which have been consumed by the 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, and invested their political capital in delivering on the GOP’s sweep of power in Washington.

Trump acknowledged it’s “very complicated stuff,” as he departed the White House for Florida.

“I don’t want to go too crazy with cuts,” he said. “I don’t like cuts.”

What started as a routine but laborious day of amendment voting, in a process called vote-a-rama, spiraled into a round-the-clock slog as Republican leaders were buying time to shore up support.

The droning roll calls in the chamber belied the frenzied action to steady the bill. Grim-faced scenes played out on and off the Senate floor, amid exhaustion.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota was desperately reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill’s reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care, and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts.

The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities. Thune can lose no more than three Republican senators, and already two — Tillis, who warned that millions of people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Paul, who opposes raising the debt limit by $5 trillion — had indicated opposition.

Attention quickly turned to two key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Collins, who also raised concerns about health care cuts, as well as a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions.

Murkowski in particular became the subject of the GOP leadership’s attention, as they sat beside her for talks. She was huddled intensely for more than an hour in the back of the chamber with others, scribbling notes on papers.

Then all eyes were on Paul after he returned from a visit to Thune’s office with a stunning offer that could win his vote. He had suggested substantially lowering the bill’s increase in the debt ceiling, according to two people familiar with the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said “Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular.”

An analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.

And on social media, billionaire Elon Musk was again lashing out at Republicans as “the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” for including the $5 trillion debt ceiling in the package, which is needed to allow continued borrowing to pay the bills.

Senators insist on changes

Few Republicans appeared fully satisfied as the final package emerges, in either the House or Senate.

Collins had proposed bolstering the $25 billion proposed rural hospital fund to $50 billion, offset with a higher tax rate on those earning more than $25 million a year, but her amendment failed.

And Murkowski was trying to secure provisions to spare people in her state from some food stamp cuts, which appeared to be accepted, while she was also working to beef up federal reimbursements to hospitals in Alaska and others states, that did not comply with parliamentary rules.

“Radio silence,” Murkowski said when asked how she would vote.

The conservative senators demanding a vote on their steeper health care cuts, including Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, filed into Thune’s office near-midnight.

What’s in the big bill

All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.

The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.

Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.

Democrats fighting all day and night

Unable to stop the march toward passage, the Democrats tried to drag out the process, including with a weekend reading of the full bill.

A few of the Democratic amendments won support from a few Republicans, though almost none were passing. More were considered in one of the longer such sessions in modern times.

One amendment overwhelmingly approved stripped a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence if they receive certain federal funding.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, raised particular concern about the accounting method being used by the Republicans, which says the tax breaks from Trump’s first term are now “current policy” and the cost of extending them should not be counted toward deficits.

She said that kind of “magic math” won’t fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti, Darelene Superville and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

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Kirsten Stokes

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — For Bethany Duckworth, being an active mom wasn’t just a dream; it was her plan.

“It’s depressing,” Duckworth said. “It’s sad.”

Last year, everything changed. Her world was turned upside down after being diagnosed with a rare and life-altering disease.

In June of 2024, Duckworth visited the emergency room with shortness of breath and chest pain. Over the next several months, she endured numerous tests and procedures, but still, no answers.

Then, in February 2025, she underwent an external e-consultation with Dr. Picard at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. After a thorough review of her records, the doctors finally gave her a diagnosis: Fibrosing Mediastinitis. This rare and aggressive condition causes excessive scar tissue to form in the chest, restricting lung function and blood flow.

“Basically, I have a mass in my chest that’s growing, and it’s encasing everything that makes your body work,” Duckworth said.

To reduce the inflammation and restore her breathing, doctors recommended a Rituximab infusion treatment. The plan included placing three stents in her arteries and blood vessels to allow blood to flow freely again and help her lungs fully inflate.

But, there was one major obstacle: the medication alone costs $36,000 for two infusions, and Bethany still doesn’t know if more will be needed.

“There’s no guarantee that’s all I will need,” Duckworth said.

Adding to the emotional and financial burden, her insurance company denied authorization for the treatment, claiming it was “medically unnecessary.”

In need of help, Bethany applied for a grant for financing from the Rituximab manufacturer. But she believes the couple’s combined income from the previous year will disqualify them for assistance.

Now, Bethany is turning to her community, launching a GoFundMe campaign in hopes of covering the out-of-pocket costs without going into financial ruin.

“It makes me feel like the health system has failed me and my insurance has failed me,” Duckworth said. “I pay $700 a month for my insurance, and they’re not covering anything.”

Despite the physical pain and emotional stress, Bethany finds her strength in her family, leaning on her husband and their two-year-old son, Connor, to keep going.

Because for Bethany, even when the system fails, love never does.

“My husband, he’s been wonderful. But I have a two-year-old who is very rambunctious, so it’s really hard to keep up with him. My husband has had to basically do everything,” Duckworth said.

To donate to Bethany’s GoFundMe, click the link here.

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CNN Newsource

By Amanda Musa, CNN

(CNN) — Two Missouri men already facing charges in the mysterious case of three friends found dead outside a Kansas City home after watching a Chiefs football game last year could have some charges upgraded to include three counts of second degree murder, court documents show.

Clayton McGeeney, 36, Ricky Johnson, 38, and David Harrington, 37, were discovered outside of Jordan Willis’ Platte County home, north of Kansas City, around 10 p.m. on January 9, 2024, two days after the men watched the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers.

All three men died of fentanyl and cocaine combined toxicity, a doctor with Forensic Medical of Kansas determined in March, according to Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd.

Willis and Ivory J. Carson were both charged with a single count of delivery of a controlled substance and three counts of involuntary manslaughter for “recklessly causing the deaths” of the three men, Zahnd said at the time.

Both men entered not guilty pleas to the initial charges, an online court docket shows.

Prosecutors are asking a judge to upgrade the three involuntary manslaughter charges to murder in the second degree, according to an amended complaint. The judge can either approve the request for upgraded charges or deny it.

Each charge is a class A felony and carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison or life imprisonment, according to the complaint.

“While not unexpected, we are greatly disappointed in the upgraded charges. Jordan has maintained his innocence since day one and he declined the Government’s plea offer,” Willis’ attorney, John Picerno, said in a statement Sunday.

“Missouri’s Felony Murder Statute is overly broad, often misused, and excessive,” Picerno said. “It should never be used in this manner. We are very much looking forward [to] challenging these charges in open court before a fair and impartial jury.”

An attorney for Carson did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment Monday.

CNN has reached out to the Platte County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office for more information regarding the decision to upgrade the codefendants’ charges.

A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Thursday, July 24 at 9 a.m., an online court docket shows.

Powdery substances and a suspect’s DNA

After the bodies were found, detectives searching Willis’ home found two “plastic bags containing white powdery substances,” one of which tests showed contained cocaine, according to Zahnd. A probable cause statement alleges Willis “was determined to be the major contributor of DNA found on that bag.”

The other bag contained fentanyl, with Carson’s DNA found to be the primary contributor on that bag, Zahnd continued, citing a probable cause statement from February 2024.

That document also recounts a statement from a witness who told police they were at Harrington’s home the night of the football game and saw “a large plate of cocaine allegedly supplied by Mr. Willis that everyone was using,” Zahnd said.

Another witness who left before midnight said he was with Willis, Harrington, McGeeney and Johnson at Willis’ home later on in the evening where they drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and used cocaine, according to the probable cause statement.

There is no evidence that Willis bought the drugs that his friends ingested before their deaths, according to Picerno, who previously spoke to the Associated Press. He also said that the group had been partying all day, AP reported.

Kansas City had a high of 37 degrees and a low of 29 degrees with trace amounts of rain and snow on January 7, and temperatures dropped to right around freezing just before sunrise the next morning.

McGeeney’s fiancée also told police the three had gone to Willis’ home the day of the Kansas City Chiefs football game on January 7, the last game of the regular season. But the three friends never came home.

Two days later, McGeeney’s fiancée went looking for him at Willis’ house and found “at least one person dead on the back patio,” Zahnd said in March.

Eventually, she called the Kansas City police. According to a police statement, officers “responded to the back porch and confirmed there was a dead body. Upon further investigation, officers located two other dead bodies in the back yard.”

Police said at the time they found “no obvious signs of foul play.”

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Kirsten Stokes

Sadie Sanders, is June’s Hometown Hero.

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